Best vehicle for a person who needs to impress customers?

[PandaBear]

One friend of mine recently got his professional license and is a customer-facing sales rep. The main customer base is women in their 30s. He currently drives a 90s Civic so it wouldn't work out very well for him and he likely need a newer car. His family currently has a 2015 Prius and a 2008 Lexus ES, I wonder would those vehicles work well for him as well or should he plan to get something else in the long run (Mercedes? BMW? Tesla? Audi?)

He is in his mid 40s and prefer something reliable, not too expensive, but still shows that he is dependable and successful instead of just someone off the street not really know his thing.

 

[Dave Hess]

Tesla

 

[wpod]

A fancier vehicle tells me car payments.

 

[PF52]

Crown Victoria.

 

[The Critic]

Depends on the area and the clientele.

 

[PandaBear]

Depends on the area and the clientele.

South Bay Area

A fancier vehicle tells me car payments.

It is part of his "business expense", like suits

Crown Victoria.

His customer base is women in their 30s, not 70s

 

[WylieCoyote]

A Lexus ES fits the bill, but not a 2008, unless it's a beautifully kept garage queen. Sensible, luxurious, but not ostentatious. Most of the world knows it's a Camry for people who like nicer things.

 

[PandaBear]

A Lexus ES fits the bill, but not a 2008, unless it's a beautifully kept garage queen. Sensible, luxurious, but not ostentatious. Most of the world knows it's a Camry for people who like nicer things.

It is a garage queen (along with the 15 Prius), but does have a bit of leather wear and tear from normal use (cracks, etc), and the engine does sound louder than when it was new.

 

[The Critic]

South Bay Area

You didn't state the clientele - this is very dependent upon the industry. Certain industries could care less.

 

[WylieCoyote]

As a timesaver, I'll be blunt. A car like that may leave the impression that he's not successful in his work because he's bad at it. Find a balance between "settling" and "overspending". CPO Lexus ES.

 

[fsdork]

Perhaps overthinking it, but is he in a business where his clients might think they're not getting a good value because his car is too nice? Or is it a business where conveying success via a luxury vehicle is appropriate? If my plumber shows up in a G-Wagon, I'm going to be a bit suspicious that I'm about to get hosed. If my lawyer has a mid-range Audi, that seems about par for the course.

 

[loneryder]

From experience I can tell you that a really nice car with a really nice interior impresses women. They notice. He's going to have to pony up for a high end CPO car.

 

[eljefino]

Use the Lexus ES he has and work on a nicer suit and personal grooming. Women really notice stuff like clean fingernails. How long is the client going to be looking at the car vs the person?

 

[CKN]

As someone who spent 25 years in professional (industrial sales) fancy car = success is one of the greatest myths out there. I was one of the top sales people (in my field in L.A.) and I always drove Buicks, Oldsmobiles and later Hondas. When you pick a customer up for a lunch date-they care more about discussing business and having a good meal than anything else.

I did turn cars frequently and had 35 in my career. But I did drive between 35,000 and 50,000 miles a year.

The Lexus if in decent shape would be fine.

 

[loneryder]

Perhaps overthinking it, but is he in a business where his clients might think they're not getting a good value because his car is too nice? Or is it a business where conveying success via a luxury vehicle is appropriate? If my plumber shows up in a G-Wagon, I'm going to be a bit suspicious that I'm about to get hosed. If my lawyer has a mid-range Audi, that seems about par for the course.

Exactly. I was calling on small business owners and I couldn't drive a high end car without "must be nice, you don't need my business" comments. I won a Cadillac El Dorado in a sales contest and sold it right away. Bought a really nice Pontiac.

 

[Pew]

Type of client is going to matter the most but a BMW 5 series would work great and could double as a family car.

 

[TCL]

I used to throw out the guy who showed up for a bid in a Mercedes. Then one day a guy told me when he came in to the office that his Mercedes was cheaper than the Ford pickup he was looking at. He was right! I never did that again. Lesson learned!

 

[CarLuver]

MB Suv .

 

[PandaBear]

More details about what kind of clients and what is he "selling":

I think, he is either selling mid to high end products to customers instead of some industrial sales. From what I know he could be selling plastic surgery, Peloton, or he could be selling time share. I do not know the detail but it is not something like drill bits or petro chemical products to a woman engineer.

What I think, from that understanding, is he need to show a charisma to make the products he's selling more convincing. He will likely not use that car to drive customers around much, but they would likely be in and out of the car once in a while (just the women and their women friends sometimes, not women, husbands, kids, etc).

 

[Oillover]

Volvo S80/XC90